Fatal Shooting Reported On Kyrgyz-Uzbek Border

JALALABAD, Kyrgyzstan -- One person has been killed and a second injured in a shooting incident in Kyrgyzstan's Jalalabad Oblast on the border with Uzbekistan, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports.

The incident took place on March 28 when Kyrgyz border guards apparently refused to allow a woman with an Uzbek passport to enter Kyrgyzstan from Uzbekistan, accusing her of trying to cross the border illegally.

A group of people on the Kyrgyz side of the border protested the refusal. According to the Kyrgyz border guards, the group ignored warning shots by the border guards and tried to seize their machine guns. One person in the group was shot dead and a second was seriously injured.

The Jalalabad garrison prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into the incident.

Many residents of southern Kyrgyzstan are ethnic Uzbeks -- with Kyrgyz passports -- and have relatives living on the other side of the border.